Writer's block is a stretch of time when you want to write, have time to write, and still cannot produce pages you are willing to keep. It is not one problem. A writer who does not know what happens next needs something different from a writer who knows the scene but rejects every sentence, and both need something different from a writer who is simply exhausted.
How you overcome writer's block depends on which kind of stuck you are, so start by naming it. Then pick the exercise that fits. Each one below takes five to fifteen minutes and leaves you with something on the page, even if that something is rough. You need your draft, a timer and permission to write worse than usual for a short while.
Find out which kind of stuck you areLink to this section
| What it feels like | What is usually happening | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| “I don't know what happens next.” | The story has run past its plan, or the plan stopped being true. | Exercise 4, then 5 |
| “I know the scene, but every sentence is wrong.” | You are drafting and judging at the same time. | Exercise 1, then 2 |
| “I'm stuck in the middle and it's all flat.” | An earlier choice took the pressure out of the story. | Exercise 8 |
| “I can't make myself sit down.” | The session is too big to begin. | Exercise 7 |
| “I keep rewriting the first chapter.” | Starting over feels safer than finding out whether the rest works. | Exercise 1, then 6 |
| “I'm afraid of what people will think.” | You are writing for a reader who isn't in the room yet. | Exercise 1, then 3 |
If more than one row fits, take the one that names the step you are on today. You can come back for the others.
A worked exampleLink to this section
Hana is writing a novel about two siblings selling their late mother's house. Chapter twelve is the scene where Jun must tell his sister that he has already accepted an offer without her. Hana knows the scene matters. For a week she has written the first paragraph, deleted it and closed the file.
Her first attempt reads like a summary of the scene, not the scene itself:
Jun told Mina about the offer. She was angry and hurt that he had decided without her, and they argued about what their mother would have wanted.
Hana is in the second row of the table: she knows what happens, and every sentence feels wrong. So she uses exercise 1 and writes it badly on purpose, with brackets wherever she doesn't know a detail:
Mina is on a ladder taking down the [curtains? the hallway mirror?]. Jun holds the ladder. He says the agent called. She says good, what did they say. He doesn't answer fast enough and she stops working. [She knows before he says it. Find the gesture.] “You signed it,” she says. Not a question. He says the offer expires Friday. She comes down the ladder and doesn't hand him the [thing].
It is not good prose yet. But it is a scene, with a ladder, a held breath and an object that will matter, and Hana can revise a scene. In the next session she fills two brackets and keeps the third for later.
1. Write the next scene badly on purpose — 10 minutesLink to this section
Set a timer and write the scene you are avoiding as plainly as you can. Use short sentences. Skip description you can't see yet. Name what each person does, says and wants, in that order. Do not reread until the timer ends.
The point is to separate drafting from judging. A first version only has to exist, so that the revising part of you has something to work on. Some writers call this a zero draft: a version written to find out what happens, not to be read.
Keep: one complete version of the scene from start to end. Look for: a single line or gesture that surprised you. That is often where the real scene is.
2. Bracket what you don't know — 5 minutesLink to this section
Every time you reach a word, fact or detail you don't have, write it in square brackets and keep going: [name of the street], [what she says here — something cruel], [check how long the train takes].
Brackets turn a stop into a note. You can search a finished draft for [ and fill them in a separate session, when looking things up won't cost you the thread of the scene.
Keep: the paragraph you were stuck on, with its brackets. Look for: how many brackets you can fill in a minute once the scene around them exists.
3. Write a letter from your character — 10 minutesLink to this section
Have the character write to someone they trust about the situation they are in: what they want, what they are afraid to say and what they plan to do next. Write it in their voice, not yours. Nobody else will read it.
This is useful when you are afraid of how the scene will land. A letter has one reader, so it lowers the stakes, and characters often know things about the story that their author hasn't admitted yet. If they are vague about what they want, try the character development questions next.
Keep: the letter. Look for: a want or a fear that the scene you were avoiding could put under pressure.
4. Skip to the scene you can see — 15 minutesLink to this section
Leave a note where you are, such as [Chapter 12: Jun tells Mina about the offer], and jump to a later scene you can already picture. Write that one instead.
You don't have to write in order. Writing a later scene often shows you what the missing one has to set up. When you come back, you know where it has to end.
Keep: the later scene and the note you left. Look for: one thing the later scene needs the earlier one to establish.
5. List twenty things that could happen next — 10 minutesLink to this section
Number a list from 1 to 20 and write one possible next event on each line. Don't stop to judge them. The first five will be the obvious ones. The interesting options usually turn up after ten, once the obvious ones are used up.
Then circle the two that would make your main character's situation harder and the one that would surprise you as a reader. If you need more raw material, roll a premise or a twist from the writing prompts and see whether it fits.
Keep: the list, with three items circled. Look for: an option that forces a choice instead of delaying one.
6. Change one constraint — 7 minutesLink to this section
Rewrite the last page you are unhappy with, changing only one thing: tell it in the present tense, in first person, from the other character's point of view, or in a different room. Keep everything else the same.
A new constraint gives you something to solve other than “make it good.” Sometimes the change stays. More often it shows you what the original version was missing.
Keep: both versions of the page. Look for: a line from the new version you would move into the old one.
7. Shrink the session — 15 minutesLink to this section
If you can't make yourself sit down, the session is too big. Set a timer for fifteen minutes and a goal of 150 words, about half a page. Stop when you reach either one, even in the middle of a sentence.
Stopping mid-sentence is useful in itself. Tomorrow you start by finishing a sentence you already know, which is easier than starting a blank page. Do this for a week before you lengthen the sessions.
Keep: a note of each day's word count. Look for: the time of day when 150 words came most easily.
8. Go back to where it last worked — 15 minutesLink to this section
When you are stuck in the middle, the problem is often a few chapters back. Reread from the last scene that felt alive and mark the first place where the main character stopped wanting something or stopped being opposed. That is where the pressure went out of the draft.
Try cutting or reversing that choice. If the sister agreed too easily in chapter nine, what happens if she refuses? A beat sheet of the chapters since then makes the flat stretch easier to see.
Keep: the place you marked and one change you could make there. Look for: a scene that becomes urgent again once that choice changes.
A 30-minute session for a stalled draftLink to this section
One 30-minute session, to scale
- 0–3 minName itPick your row in the table
- 3–13 minFirst exerciseWrite without rereading
- 13–15 minKeep one thingUnderline it
- 15–25 minSecond exerciseOr stay with the first
- 25–30 minLeave a noteFor the next session
- Minutes 0–3: Pick your row in the table above and write it at the top of the page.
- Minutes 3–13: Do the first exercise listed for that row, cut to fit the ten minutes.
- Minutes 13–15: Stop and underline one thing you will keep.
- Minutes 15–25: Do the second exercise for the row, or continue the first if it is working.
- Minutes 25–30: Write a note for your next session: where you stopped, what you'll try first and any bracket you want to fill.
Ending with a note matters as much as the writing. The next session starts with a decision you have already made.
When it isn't writer's blockLink to this section
Sometimes the problem is not the draft. Long stretches of exhaustion, a low mood that lasts for weeks, or losing interest in things you usually enjoy are worth raising with a doctor or someone you trust, not just pushing through with exercises. Rest is a legitimate part of a writing schedule.
Keep the bad version without losing the good oneLink to this section
Writing badly on purpose is easier when it can't cost you anything. In Inkwell, make a save point before a rough pass, and go back to it if the pass doesn't work. In Plot, a take puts a rough version of one scene beside the original, and you keep whichever works. For a bigger experiment, such as a new middle or a whole chapter from another point of view, write on a separate draft line, in Plot or in Canvas for novels, stories and other long documents.